Michigan Court of Appeals: No new sentence in sexual delinquency case

ADRIAN — An Adrian man serving up to life in prison after being found to be sexually delinquent has had his latest appeal for resentencing rejected.

Tyler Wayne Judy, 34, has already been resentenced twice on two counts of indecent exposure as a sexually delinquent person. Once was after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that the state’s sentencing guidelines don’t apply in cases where defendants, like Judy, are found to be sexually delinquent because the statute gives a minimum sentence of one day and a maximum of life in prison for felony convictions. The sentencing guidelines apply to offenses that don’t have a set minimum sentence.

The next resentencing was after the Michigan Court of Appeals vacated the first resentencing because Judy, unbeknownst to his attorney, the prosecution or the trial court, had filed an appeal on his own to the Michigan Supreme Court that had to be considered first, the Court of Appeals said. That appeal was rejected.

A Michigan Court of Appeals panel on Nov. 30 ruled against Judy’s latest appeal, which argued that Lenawee County Circuit Judge Anna Marie Anzalone failed to consider all sentencing options at the resentencing, he did not waive his right to be physically present at resentencing, and if he was entitled to resentencing, it should be before a different trial court judge.

Judy's case involved two incidents in February 2019 at the Little Caesars pizza store in Tecumseh where he was convicted of exposing himself to a woman working there. He also had prior convictions for indecent exposure and aggravated indecent exposure for incidents in 2017 at businesses in Adrian. Evidence of a third incident in 2017 in Adrian also was presented.

After being convicted by a jury, Anzalone sentenced him under the sentencing guidelines to 135 months to 40 years in prison. After the state Supreme Court said sentences for sexually delinquent defendants had to follow the penalties in the statute, Anzalone sentenced Judy to one day to life in prison. When the Court of Appeals ordered Judy be sentenced again, Anzalone repeated the one day to life sentence.

Anzalone was aware of her options when she resentenced Judy, said the latest Court of Appeals opinion written by Judges Christopher M. Murray, Thomas C. Cameron and Sima G. Patel. It noted that after Anzalone issued the sentence Lenawee County Chief Appellate Prosecutor Jennifer Bruggeman reminded Anzalone of her options. Anzalone replied, “Yeah, I’m going to go with the one day to life.”

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Judy appeared at the resentencing by video from prison though he had not waived his right to be physically present in the courtroom.

“The issue is whether the plain error affected defendant’s substantial rights under the third prong of plain-error review. It did not,” the opinion states, citing case law. The first two prongs of the test were that he was not physically present and he had not waived that right.

The case cited in the opinion noted that the defendant’s remote participation did not undermine the fairness of the proceeding or restrict the defendant’s ability to argue for a low sentence.

“The same is true here,” the latest opinion said. “Defendant and his counsel actively participated in his resentencing. … Indeed, defendant has presented no evidence that his sentence would have been different had he been physically present.”

Because the court found Judy is not entitled to resentencing, it did not address his argument to be resentenced by a different judge.

Judy is incarcerated at Central Michigan Correctional Facility in St. Louis. The parole board will determine if he can be released.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Michigan Court of Appeals: No new sentence in sexual delinquency case